


Sometimes, Living Is Harder

by RomytheRed



Series: How to Live With Dying: A series of Short Stories [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Death equals reset AU, Dreams can be worse than reality, Everybody Lives, Frisk Uses Sign Language, Gen, Mute Frisk, Post-Pacifist Route, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, but thankfully, they're the things you CAN wake up from
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomytheRed/pseuds/RomytheRed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You wake up on a soft, white bed.</p><p>Screaming.</p><p>Wait... <em>its not you?</em></p><hr/><p>Frisk finally succeeded. Despite their fear, their suffering, and their uncountable RESETS, they managed to Save <em>everyone</em>. Especially and most importantly, their Best Friends.</p><p>But they're only 10 or 11 at best.</p><p>They're just a little kid.</p><p>And dying hurts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes, Living Is Harder

You wake up on a soft, white bed.

Screaming.

Wait... _its not you?_

  


You're honestly rather confused about whats going on, so maybe it'd be a good idea to try and get your thoughts in order...

Fact 1: Your name is Chara Dreemur, and its been at most two or three months since you stopped being dead. Which, honestly, is pretty weird, but hey what the heck right?

Fact 2: you are currently living on the surface with your brother/best friend, Ree - er, Asriel Dreemur, also Not Dead now, and your sibling and other best friend, Frisk. Where on the surface? Well...

Fact 3: You and Ree being alive again kind of managed to make your Mom and Dad get back together - though, its still... its, well... they're... they're not as close as they used to be for sure.

Fact 4: Neither you nor Ree is actually _comfortable_ with being alive, considering - well. Thinking about that right now won't help you get yourself _more_ together.

Fact 5: wHO IS SC REAMING,

  


It took you about 30 seconds to get your head clear enough to actually _register_ the screaming properly. Everyone else should be asleep right now, and you're honestly surprised that Mom or Dad hasn't woken up yet. Its so lOUD, and why are they screaming what's - wait, wait. Wait. WAIT, WAIT WAIT WAIT, WAIT WAIT WAIT _WAITWAIT WAIT,_

  


15 more seconds for you to realize what the screaming coming from next to you in the bed _means_. Thats too long, you can't believe it took you this long, oh my GOD, this is terrible, you're a terrible person you can t be lieve you let them s uff er this lon g, oh god, oh no they're prolly having an attack, shit, shit, SHIT, _SH I T_

  


You sit up as fast as you can, trying not to panic. TOO LATE HAHAHAHA, BUT, you can at least _TRY_ to not panic _more!!!!!_ Probably!!!!

25 more seconds wasted panicking. Why is Ree not awake yet. Why are Mom and Dad not awake yet. What do you do why can't you think of what to do it should be obvious, why aren't you waking Frisk up, they're suffering, stop worrying and DO IT

  


They're tossing and turning in their sleep, you're amazed you weren't woken up by that first considering they're right next to you. How can you wake them up without hurting them, you don't want to make things worse........

  


_90 seconds,_ the internal guilt-count in your head rings out, _91 seconds... 92 seconds..._

Right. Screw it, they're obviously suffering, you're going to do your best to wake them up even if you have to get a little rough. Its fine. You'll apologize later, they'll forgive you, and you'll only feel minorly guilty for the next week, it'll be fine.

  


You grab their shoulders firmly and shake them lightly. "Frisk! Wake Up! It's just a dream!" You hiss, trying not to wake up Ree, who, ridiculously, is sleeping through all this _JUST FINE_ \- thanks for nothing, Ree.

Wordless screams and pained moaning are all the response you get from Frisk, and they start to writhe even more violently. They actually hit you in the face on accident. You don't really care, too much. You just keep trying to wake them up.

  


It's not working too well though. 105 seconds and counting. Ok, that does it you're conscripting the furball whether he likes it or not.

You grab Ree's snoot and pull, hard. His eyes fly open and he sits straight up with a yelp. He turns to face you with an accusatory glare, but it only lasts a second before he notices the more... impending, issue.

  


"Chara, what's-"

You cut him off immediately. "Ree, go get Mom. Please. Seriously, I don't know how long they've been like this, I woke up literally 2 minutes ago."

  


He doesn't even bother nodding. He just gets up and runs. Thank god. If nothing else, he's still the same old Ree. Even if he doesn't think so.

However, Frisk needs your attention more than he does right now. You turn back to them. You have at least 60 seconds, 90 more at most, before Ree comes back with Mom. You could wait for them to get here.

  


You start laughing fearfully. Yeah. _Only 60 more seconds._ Hahaha. Yeah, sure. Except for Frisk, every few seconds right now is probably agony. You have a really, really good idea of what they're probably dreaming about. They've told you before, after all.

  


You don't _experience death_ that many times without repercussions.

  


How much they went through, just because they loved you, and Ree, and everyone, is all that you can think about as you yell, and laugh, and cry at them to wake up. That its ok, that its over, that they don't have to do that again.

  


45 seconds. Where t _HE HELL ARE MOM AND REE???_

Nothing is working, this is awful, you're terrible, you don't want to let them suffer like this anymore, you can't BELIEVE how terrible you are at this!!! You just -

  


60 seconds. 3 minutes since you woke up. An idea. A stupid one. Your last one. God this is gonna be, so embarrassing,

You reach your arms around Frisk and hug them as hard as you can. They keep struggling, despite your best efforts. Despite everything you say to try to comfort them.

  


Fine. Last resort time. This is all you've got left.

  


You brought Frisk's face as close to you as possible, closed your eyes...

...And kissed them, on the cheek.

  


75 seconds. You waited, hoping with every ounce of your body it worked.

A quieter, less pained moaning noise, and a much weaker, more regular squirming motion signified that it had. You sighed in desperate relief.

  


One of Frisk's hands reached out from under your arms (which were still refusing to let go) to touch your face. That was about when you realized you were crying.

"Uh... ahahaahahahaha.... ahahah.... this is, weird, isnt it, Frisk..." You managed to choke between sobs, "Shouldn't you, be the one, crying... hahahaha...."

They tried to laugh, but what came out was a sob of their own. They grabbed onto you and pulled you closer, putting their head on your shoulder. You responded in kind.

  


90 seconds. Ree ran in, Mom hot on his tail. He didn't even bother to wait for her, immediately getting back on the bed and joining the hug.

His arms were soft and furry and warm, and comfortable. And Frisk's were tiny, and trembling, but warm in their own way, and, its hard to describe why, but they made you feel a little happy.

  


"My Children... are you all right?"

  


The three of you looked at each other, then back at your mother. You all shook your heads.

Honestly, there was no way any of you were ok.

After what happened to each of you? You probably never would be.

  


But you were all Determined to try to make things better. To at least _try_ to live on.

  


To wake up the next day.

Screaming.

But also fighting, all the way.

**Author's Note:**

> Im gonna say this every time, but using the nickname "Ree" for asriel is originally from FeralPhoenix, blame them for it. then go read their fics.
> 
> Dreams can be terrifying, honestly. Good thing you _can_ wake up from them.


End file.
